May 3rd, 2012
So, in case you missed it, here’s the story on Groklaw. It’s okay; I won’t take offense if you missed it. Not quite so many people have been paying attention to SAS v. WPL. So it goes.
This ruling is… a very bad idea. It is too broad. It takes away protections which are absolutely vital to driving innovation and invention. (And no, this is not contrary.) To describe the ruling as overly broad in a dangerous way is much like calling the ocean damp. And yes, I really do know what I’m saying and talking about here.
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Categories: Personal, Technology
March 29th, 2012
Note; significantly rewritten post. So, you know, please read again. I’m truly sorry about what I initially wrote – it was a stupid way to say things and I should know better than to write when I’m that angry.
If you follow me on Twitter, you probably noticed I got rather pissed off at someone the other night. Justifiably so. As @wilw says, “Don’t be a dick.” Well. A lot of people have been failing utterly. Not just one person – a lot. And I’m tired of feeling like a doormat and/or invisible.
Why? Because a lot of people have been saying things that are extremely offensive, whether or not they realize it. In this case, another person quite literally said that I, as in me personally, pretty much don’t deserve to live. Or to have any quality of life. While spreading ignorant, hurtful lies about the reality of the country we live in and how insurance works.
And yes, I’ve gone back and rewritten this post. Because the personal aspect of it, in hindsight, obliterated the message I actually wanted to send. Pobody’s nerfect, most especially of all not me. Especially when upset. And that’s on me, and I’m sorry.
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Categories: Personal
February 27th, 2012
Everyone already knows I love Synology. And those who have joined the growing list of Synology owners have quickly found out exactly why I love Synology so much. It’s not because I’ve joined a religion, or because they gave me free hardware (which they did in this case; full disclosure after all!) It’s because Synology really is the best tool not just for the job, but for many, many jobs.
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Categories: Uncategorized
February 15th, 2012
Usually, my blog posts are thousands of words long (no, really, my average is around 2K.) But this one? Isn’t. And that’s more or less exactly why you should or shouldn’t rejoice. Hitachi was kind enough to invite me to an early briefing and Q&A on Friday with some of their best and brightest who have been working on this for quite some time.
So let’s dig in further, shall we?
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Categories: HDS, Storage, Virtualization
November 10th, 2011
Taking a break from yet another incredibly hectic week (don’t ask!) to finally get this committed to a database entry. Plus this will make a lot more sense now that the hype has died down somewhat. Everyone’s been absolutely obsessed with the fact that HP’s Project Moonshot is “OMG ARM IN SERVERS.” Except, it’s not. It’s really not that at all.
See, if it was just that, I wouldn’t be writing about it at all. ARM is too niche, too underpowered to actually get me interested. Make all the excuses you want for it, but you can only lie about clock so much. ARM is niche. You are not going to be running your business intelligence system on something with only 16 double precision registers. So what the heck has me so interested in Project Moonshot?
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Categories: Data Center, HP, Sustainability, Technology
October 31st, 2011
I’m still sorting out the massive braindump from this event, but I figure I should start with a quick overview of what we talked about down in Houston last week, so we’re all on the same page. (Presence on same page not guaranteed. Offer void where prohibited by law.)
First, let’s go through a super quick list of topics covered. There’s HP’s CloudSystem initative, HP’s EcoPOD (mmm, POD..), Matrix Operating Environment, CloudMaps, Cloud Bursting (I can hear @reillyusa screaming now,) security in the cloud, and product testing. All very, very important bits of a larger puzzle.
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Categories: Cloud, HP, Technology
October 13th, 2011
While the rest of the world continues to mourn Steve Jobs, who showed us that passion, pursuit, and confidence can in fact, lead to grand success, he showed many of his failings as well. As we all do. No picture is in black and white; just shades of gray. Steve made his decisions, and he stood by them. And we should remember him for that. Not for the fanbase. For what he did out of passion.
Which makes reporting that Dennis M. Ritchie passed on, on October 8th, 2011, even more painful. I never met Dennis, or people who worked with Dennis, or knew anyone who he worked for. But in the grand scheme of my life, when I examine not the part but the whole, dmr influenced me and did more for my life, than any other person in it. He is not my father, my uncle, my grandfather, or anything. He wasn’t related by blood, and only barely by profession. I can take comfort in the knowledge that he died at home, among his family, after a long illness. He’s now at peace. He was always a very private man, as was his right. Not that people would swarm him to autograph their basketballs.
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Categories: Personal, Unix
October 6th, 2011
I figured I should wait for the flood of, well, everyone else’s ramblings to subside a bit before posting my own. So, here it is. (No, I didn’t write this in advance.)
I am not a fan of Apple. Everyone knows this. I don’t particularly like their products (overpriced PCs) or their business strategies (forced/encouraged obsolescence, cult mentality, etcetera.) But you know what? I have always had a tremendous respect for Steve Jobs as a person. Even when I haven’t agreed with him, I always have and always will have tremendous respect for the man.
I didn’t know Steve personally. I never worked for Apple. The closest I got was a heavily upgraded Apple IIgs, back when Apple meant PowerPC CPUs and high performance SCSI disks. I hated System 7, because honestly, I was a Unix and DOS guy. Being forced to do everything with point and click was anathema to me. I absolutely loathed working on that system, because even though the hardware was powerful, the software was a nightmare.
I can’t say OS X changed that or my opinion overmuch. Or that it changed the world.
And I wouldn’t call Steve a tireless innovator, or a genius, or any of those sort of superlatives. I do that not because I disrespect him, but because doing so is disrespectful to him. Steve Jobs earned my respect the same way others have; he didn’t have to have some particular talent, a Mensa membership card, or some sort of quirk. He wasn’t any of these things any more than anyone else; he was a human being, just like everyone else.
What made Steve Jobs special was what he did. He didn’t need a gift for any of it, and I sincerely doubt he even had one. No matter what anyone says, he earned his place in history through hard work and passion. Apple Computers never needed a mad genius and/or a brilliant artist at the helm, ever. They needed someone who had the passion to push through no matter what, the commitment to stick it out even when a product failed, the drive to push ideas that had never been tried before, the dedication to stand by their decisions, and the honesty to back ideas and visions no matter what anyone else says.
That man always was, and always will be Steve Jobs. Did he invent things? Yes. Does he have patents? Yup. These are verifiable facts. Does that make him the sole voice, the master artist? No. It never did. I remember reading an article years ago; Steve would outline a broad idea, or a concept that he had for software or for a system. Which he then handed off to engineers and programmers to make a reality. And he rode them hard to make it perfect. Not because he was a jerk. Not because he was an egomaniac. Not because he could. He wanted things to be perfect because he truly believed that not only could they be, but that the engineers and programmers could in fact make it perfect, and there was no reason to accept anything less. You never demand perfection unless you truly, genuinely believe that those people can in fact, deliver on it. You just don’t take the kind of chances that Steve did, unless you really, truly believe in the product and the people.
Steve Jobs should be an inspiration to every CEO in the world, no matter what business they are in. Take a look in the mirror, and ask yourself one simple question: if I were presented a new idea, would I be willing to stand behind it, keep close watch on it, push for perfection, and do it all again even when it fails? Not everything from Apple came from Steve, and not everything he touched turned to gold, but he refused to let failure slow him down and he refused to lie about his belief in technology or his employees to deliver.
I’d say rest in peace, but I’m an honest man. Steve isn’t resting; he never did, and he never will. I don’t believe for one second that he would be happy resting any more than I would be. So I honestly hope that he has the team he needs to help him continue his work, wherever he is.
Just, you know. Please don’t call it iCloud. I’m pretty sure that’s already taken.
Categories: Personal
September 19th, 2011
So, we’ve had new hardware come out, and people have been asking me for a while “Phil, when are you going to update the BabyDragon? The Xeon X3450 and Intel 3420 architecture is pretty long in the tooth here.” Well, one doesn’t get to be the best by deploying new technology without testing (even if it’s other people testing it!) You don’t roll out brand new beta software in production, and that’s how I handle BabyDragon. I’m curating a hardware list that’s got to meet two key requirements. One, it needs to be fully compatible with VMware vSphere. Two, it needs to be true server grade – not just in terms of features, but in terms of reliability.
But finally, the wait is over. (more…)
Categories: Technology, Virtualization, VMware
September 6th, 2011
I sent this letter to ICANN today in response to these two links I found on Twitter.
GoDaddy’s New “Selective DNS Blackouts” Policy
UPDATE on GoDaddy’s New “Selective DNS Blackouts” Policy
Letter after the jump, reasoning after the letter.
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Categories: Intarweb, Networking, Technology
